Midtown Madness 2
Midtown Madness 2 is a free roam/racing sequel to Midtown Madness, which was released on September 22nd, 2000 in the US and October 6th, 2000 in Europe. It was developed by Angel Studios (now Rockstar San Diego) and published by Microsoft. The game features a range of twenty vehicles which can be driven around San Francisco and London, as well as many others, thanks to a multitude of fan-made mods. Gameplay MM2 has six unique game modes, each with their own set of rules. Despite this, most races allow the player to modify aspects such as traffic/pedestrian levels, weather conditions, time of day and the likelihood of running into police vehicles. There are two difficulty settings to choose from when creating a new profile: "Amateur" and "Professional." Crash Course The Crash Course is the "career" or "story" mode of MM2. It consists of a series of "lessons" and "exams" to help you enter work as surreal forms of a taxi or stunt driver. Completing a group of three lessons will unlock a Midterm exam. Completing that will unlock a new paint-job for a car, while completing all three will unlock the final exam. Completing that will unlock an entirely new car. Checkpoint Checkpoint is the main racing discipline in MM2, with 12 races in each city. It involves racing between "checkpoints" against opponents, placed throughout the city, which may be visited via any route, in any order, before a final checkpoint is revealed when the others have been passed. Completing each race will unlock a new one, while completing six will unlock a new car. Victory in all checkpoint events will unlock a special paint job for those cars. Circuit Circuit is a racing discipline in MM2, with 10 races in each city. It involves racing around "circuits" marked out with red/white barriers, against opponents. Completing five races will unlock a new car, while victory in all checkpoint events will unlock a special paint job for those cars. Blitz Blitz is a racing discipline in MM2, with 10 races in each city. It involves racing between "checkpoints" against the clock, which may be visited via any route, in any order. Completing 5 races will unlock a new car, while victory in all checkpoint events will unlock a special paint job for those cars. Cruise Cruise is MM2's "free roam" mode, which allows players to explore any city, in any car, in any way. Some players would consider this as the main attraction that the game offers, due to its open, endless nature. Cops & Robbers Cops & Robbers is the game's only multiplayer-exclusive game mode, which is similar to "capture-the-flag" game-modes seen in other games. In this mode, players must collect the "gold" and return it to their "hideout," aiming to collect more than the other team(s). Cars As with all driving games, cars have a big part to play, but Midtown Madness 2 is renowned for its unusual selection of 20 unique vehicles, which very dramatically between each other ten than Midtown Madness 1. *Mini Cooper Classic *VW New Beetle *London Cab *Cadillac Eldorado *Ford F-350 *Ford Mustang GT *Ford Mustang Cruiser *Ford Mustang Fastback *Panoz Roadster *City Bus *Double-Decker Bus *Freightliner Century *New Mini Cooper *VW New Beetle Dune *VW New Beetle RSi *Light Tactical Vehicle *Audi TT *Aston Martin DB7 Vantage *Panoz GTR-1 *American LaFrance Fire Truck Cities While the original Midtown Madness only allowed players to roam around Chicago, MM2 brings players to two different cities: the sun-kissed San Francisco and historic London. San Francisco The second-largest city in California, USA, San Francisco serves as the main location for MM2. The area depicted sits between the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges and includes multiple boroughs, such as Presidio and Russian hill, as well as many landmarks, such as the Transamerica Pyramid and Coit Tower. London As capital of both England and the United Kingdom, London is the second city to appear in MM2. The featured area sits between the Tower and Lamberth Bridges, which covers Westminster, Paddington, Kensington Lamberth and The City, but still features many landmarks, such as Buckingham Palace and St Paul's Cathedral. Mods As one of the oldest free-roam racing games, while its fun and enjoyability hasn't aged, its graphics and hardware is nowhere near the current industry standard. As a result, MM2 has attracted a huge modding community, aiming to bring the game up to speed and port almost any vehicle imaginable into the game. Installing Mods Although some mods have their own installers, many are simply provided as compressed files, which need to be extracted to be used in the game. Common file extensions are: *'.zip' - designed for Winzip (and is the only type of file the software can open) *'.rar '- designed for WinRAR (which can compress files to a much higher standard and is the most common file type used for MM2) *'.7z' - designed for 7zip (which is capable of opening all three of the above file types) When you have opened the file, using the relevant software, extract the '''.ar '''file(s) inside (files which MM2 can recognize and use) to the Midtown Madness 2 directory. Often, when multiple complex mods are used, MM2's "heap" may overload and cause game crashes, meaning you may need to remove mods in order to continue play, but remember to never delete the file containing the car you were last driving, otherwise you may never be able to use that save-game again. Trivia *If you look closely at this game's front cover, you can see this game's predecessor, Midtown Madness, being promoted on the front end of the cable car in San Francisco. Category:Content Category:Development Category:Games Category:Standard